Nearing the Event Horizon
by SpitfireShippersAnonymous
Summary: AU. "Why'd you come to Central City if you're not even going to commit any real crimes?" Tigress smiled lazily, slowly. A wicked smile that dimpled her cheeks as she brought her hooded, stormy eyes to his. "If you don't know the answer to that, Flash boy, then we have nothing left to talk about." Villain!Artemis/Flash!Wally. Suggested by TheRantDragon.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- We do not own Young Justice nor any of it's characters.**

**Hope you guys like this as much as we enjoyed writing it! Chapter 2 soon, and we've got some nice things planned!**

**o.o.o.o**

**_Written by TheRantDragon, Alfhild, IronicVeghead, and DSBB._  
**

**o.o.o.o**

The sound of alarms blaring was like music to her ears. She grinned behind that mask of hers, whipping around with her crossbow to pin the charging guard against the wall like it was nothing. He dropped his club to the ground, and it rolled up against the toe of one of her boots. She kicked it away and leaned against the wall opposite the guard, who looked terrified beyond measure.

"Wh-why aren't you stealing anything? Why aren't you running!?" he stuttered out. Tigress could tell he was new to the job. He was young, and his Adam's apple bobbed uncertainly as she lifted her crossbow back up and pointed it to a spot just left of his ear.

"Let's just say I'm _meeting _someone here..." she said, and that wicked grin stretched even wider at the thought. "And I don't think we'll be needing an audience."

With that, she loosed an arrow. The guard cried out, thinking he was done for, but it had embedded itself in the wall inches away from him. He breathed a sigh of relief—that was until a high, kreening sound came from the end of the shaft, and a deep purple gas was released. His eyes rolled back into his skull as soon as he got a whiff of it, his head falling forward uselessly onto his chest.

Tigress took a moment to place several carefully aimed arrows into the various security cameras dotting the perimeter, then, once satisfied with the smoke billowing out them, took her place against the wall again, looking fairly bored.

There was no need to run, no need to set up a defense. The police of Central City had grown lazy over the years. It was almost moot for them to even respond to criminal activity anymore.

_He _always beat them to it.

She hummed delightedly in the back her throat at the thought of him. She couldn't wait to sink her claws into him again.

It was no mistake that, even though Tigress originally hailed from Gotham, she'd made it a point to set up her criminal headquarters in Central City. She'd first laid eyes on _him _when he'd been aiding that do-gooder Nightwing back in the Gotham Slums, and she'd been so enthralled by him that she'd made it a priority to find out what city he protected and follow him there.

_And what a good decision it had been._

A good decision indeed. But perhaps it was a little pathetic that, as of late, she'd merely been setting off security to get his attention... she hadn't stolen anything in weeks. And even as she let her bored grey eyes fall to the twinkling jewels sitting carefully on velvet cushions around shards of broken glass, just _begging _to be snatched... she had no desire to do so.

She glanced at the clock ticking away above the glass case she'd busted to trigger the alarm system, and was just beginning to think he was getting slow in his old age when a familiar gust of strong winds blew her long, golden hair in front of her face.

"I had a feeling you'd be the culprit," came his strong, even voice. He wasn't even out of breath from his run. She smirked to herself, not allowing him the luxury of her gaze just yet, instead keeping it locked on the ticking hand of the clock.

"You don't sound very disappointed," she teased in answer. She heard him huff in irritation, but she wasn't fooled for even a second; his irritation was as false as it ever was. He was _happy _that it was her, and if she had to guess correctly, his heart rate had probably just sped up as hers had at his anticipated arrival.

They were becoming _addicted _to this little game.

She finally turned and gave him her full attention. The Flash was standing there with his hands on his hips, trying and failing to keep an annoyed look on his face.

"This is becoming a habit, Tigress."

She snorted.

"As usually is the case with criminals," she riposted, grinning at him. She thought she saw his lips faintly quirk upward at one corner, but he reigned himself in and gestured over to the broken glass of the display case.

"Are you so sure you're a criminal? You bust cases, you break into banks, you pin policeman to the walls when they're out patrolling... but you never _take _anything. You never _kill _anyone."

Tigress wrinkled her nose at that last one.

"I don't kill. It's too messy and frankly not worth my time," she said, but didn't look him in the eyes. Instead she busied herself with pulling an arrow from her quiver so that she could fiddle with it idly as they talked. The casualness with which she had answered that left a bitter taste on her tongue; the real reason she didn't kill was because she _did _have a moral code, and she had been forced to _kill _before, and she didn't _like _taking a person's life from them.

"Why'd you come to Central City if you're not even going to commit any real crimes?" the Flash demanded, brows furrowing behind that damned concealing mask of his. God, how many times had she fantasized about the face and the hair and the eyes that hid beneath it, just waiting to be discovered?

Tigress smiled lazily, slowly. A wicked smile that dimpled her cheeks as she brought her hooded, stormy eyes to his.

"If you don't know the answer to _that_, Flash boy, then we have nothing left to talk about."

He reacted accordingly, stiffening a bit as if just now realizing the implications, and she thought she saw the faintest of pink flushes to the bit of his cheeks that she could actually see.

_Perfect._

"So, I was wondering..." Tigress continued when he said nothing, her voice dropping down to a coaxing octave as she played with the arrow in her hand, her fingers sliding up and down the object, tweaking its pointed tip.

The superhero took a few steps towards her as he spoke gruffly. "You of all people should know that saying about curiosity and the cat."

There was a foot of distance between them now.

"Really, I'm all for the skin-tight uniform," she traced the dip of his collar bone with an outstretched finger as if to emphasize just how formfitting his red costume was, and he lowered his chin to watch her movements. "But for someone named "Flash," you really don't show a lot of skin." She grinned mischievously up at him. "And that's something we shall have to remedy."

Her fingering his clavicle evolved into raking her fingers down his chest, lower and lower until they reached his navel. Tigress kept a single digit pressed against it, her fingernail digging into the spandex.

The playful smirk dropped from Flash's face. The lenses in his mask that shielded his eyes from view made it slightly difficult for Tigress to read him, but she could tell she was having the desired affect on him.

"Hm. You're usually so much more talkative than this." She brought both hands up to rest on top of his shoulders, massaging the muscles there like an afterthought. "What's the matter? You of _all _people should know that saying about the cat and the tongue—"

Flash didn't give her the the chance to finish that sentence, because in an instant he'd grabbed her waist and pulled her until she was flush against him, kissing the words right out of her mouth.

The warehouse was silent, save for light sounds of smacking lips and muffled breathing which usually accompanied a heated kiss.

His lips were soft but demandingly hard against hers. His roaming hands grasped tightly and soothed with caresses. The kiss was equal parts punishment and praise. Contradictory, just like the rest of this strange relationship they had going.

_Two can play at that game._

Never one to be slow on the uptake, Tigress laughed and pulled back from his ravenous lips, her hot breath ghosting over them before she licked them. She couldn't tell, but she was positive that his pupils were blown with lust behind those silly little lenses of his. She reached back behind his head, her fingers seeking purchase on the back of that damnable cowl, the one that was keeping her from tangling her digits in his locks, whatever color they may be. She laughed again, pressing her chest against his and running her hot tongue over his reddened lips once more.

"Admit it, Flasher. You _knew _it was me and you couldn't _wait _to get here for another of our little get togeth—"

Flash cut her off by pressing her into the wall closest to them, his tongue plunging into her mouth without warning. Her eyes widened in mild surprise—normally she instigated these types of things—and let loose a pleasured hum in the back of her throat, her eyes fluttering shut as they engaged in a ferocious battle of tongues. Once again she felt irritation at the lack of access to his hair, but sufficed for jumping up and wrapping her toned thighs around his hips.

He cupped both sides of her rear, pressing her firmly against him, and the kiss muffled their groans when their hips made contact. Tigress pulled away from his mouth to press hot, wet kisses to the underside of his jaw, grateful that the cowl didn't hinder her efforts here, and as she did so, she glanced down, catching sight of the arousal she felt pressed so insistently against her clothed center. She never grew tired of seeing Flash's erection inhibited by his red spandex.

Tigress ground furiously against him, and he grabbed her chin and melded his mouth with hers for another punishing kiss, but Tigress pulled back just enough to derail him. It was time to push Flash's buttons just a bit. She caught his lower lip between her teeth and nibbled and suckled it, knowing how much it drove him wild, and timed her ministrations with the thrusts of her hips.

Flash squeezed her cheeks with his hands, and pressed her even further against the wall. He rested his head in the crook of her neck, and for a moment, all she could hear was his heavy breathing. And then he ground his pelvis into hers so deeply, so thoroughly, that Tigress forgot how to think. This was literally sex with clothes on.

She was so taken with the firm heat pressed against her that her darkened eyes hooded and her mouth opened in a sharp intake of breath. The torment grew and Tigress clenched her legs around Flash's waist, her chest clenching in the agony that the biting, nearly _painful _pressure wasn't enough. Flash growled at her tightened grip and bit into the covered skin of her neck.

Tigress shivered at the vehement nips, her eyes opening wide enough to glance at the hero's covered ears and curse because she couldn't reach them.

She needed to start covering up more. It wasn't _fair_.

The blonde bucked against him again, her fingernails digging into his spandex so hard the fabric stretched between her digits. Flash's breath caught in his throat and she could _hear _him gulp in muted astonishment. Tigress smiled because she knew then that he was only a breath away from release.

And who was she to deny him? After all, he'd come when she'd called.

The villainess gave her best _purr _and shifted her hips slowly, _sensually _against him. The prolonged motion so arduously precise that he shivered beneath her with insatiable rapture. She finished him off with a deep drag of her tongue across his openly panting mouth.

It was, as she'd planned, his final undoing.

Flash groaned a long, drawn out sound of alluring fervor and his hips trembled against her own. She felt her body shudder from the vibration of his release, her ache sharp from the knowledge of lost satisfaction. At the rate things were going, she'd drain the batteries in her vibrator long before he'd ever take off that damn cowl.

Reluctantly, she disentangled herself from him. "Honestly, you have an appalling lack of manners, Flash boy. Weren't you taught that it's polite to let the lady go first?" she teased, re-adjusting her mask, which had been pushed askew as he'd assaulted her with hungry kisses..

"Ladies don't knock out security guards and just let them lie on the floor," Flash retorted, still a little breathless. The exposed portions of his cheeks were painted pink with flush.

"Good thing I'm enough of a lady to know when to make an exit," she replied, and with that abruptly spun on her heel to vacate the premises before the Central cops decided it was high time they got their lazy butts to the scene of the... er, _lack _of crime. "It's been fun, Flasher."

The Flash grabbed her wrist before she made it even two steps toward the exit, restraining her with a firm grip. "I don't think I can let you do that."

"Up for round two already? Wow, you really are the fastest man alive," she joked maliciously.

His face was all business. She sighed. He just _had _to do things the hard way.

"It's not about letting me go as much as it is about _you _figuring out the grounds on which to hold _me_, while your friends down at the station remind _you _about proper conduct with suspects," she stated, staring pointedly at his groin. Flash looked down, suddenly reminded of the fact that he'd gotten a bit too excited during their romp against the wall, giving her enough room to maneuver and fire a smoke arrow to cover her exit. She smirked at his frustrated groan as the smoke began to billow around the room.

"As much as I like seeing you, Flasher, I'd rather not have to sign up for any conjugal visits to do so," she added as a parting shot, leaving before he could use superspeed to clear the room of the thick smokescreen.

Tigress sighed as she slipped away, a hand scratching absently at the tight fabric of her costume.

_This calls for a bubble bath, a good vintage, and breaking out the new vibrator_, she thought as she slinked back to her apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- We do not own Young Justice or any of it's characters. Nor do we own any of the cereal brand names used in this particular chapter.**

**So here's chapter two! :D We're just sort of going with the flow with this fic as we go, we have a loose outline to go by and that's pretty much it.**

**P.S. We all know Dick's fifth girlfriend is cereal. I'm just sayin'!**

**And, of course, all of your reviews are greatly appreciated! :D**

**o.o.o.o**

**Written by TheRantDragon, DSBB, Dottoraqn, Alfhild, and IronicVeghead**

**o.o.o.o**

Dick's cackles echoed around the walls of the neat little apartment, and Wally scowled as he finished the last few buttons on his pressed white shirt, sending his friend an unamused glance as he snorted with mirth into a bowl of cereal.

"You can stop laughing now, _pal_," he said, struggling to knot his tie correctly. Dick at last managed to quell his guffaws from where he sat on the back of Wally's couch, bowl in hand. "And will you stay out of my cereal!?"

"Like you're a better guest when you visit the manor? It was you who ate all of Alfred's lemon bars on your first visit, if I'm remembering correctly," Dick criticized, shoving another spoonful of Count Chocula into his mouth. He picked the box up from the coffee table and poured more in, much to his best friend's chagrin.

"Dude, that was _fourteen _years ago!" Wally objected hotly, frustratedly trying to untangle his fingers from the poorly tied knot he'd managed to make. He'd never liked ties. Too much hassle.

"_Alfred's _lemon bars," Dick emphasized, chocolate crumbs spraying from his mouth. "Also you tied that backwards," he noted as he wiped his mouth, inciting a pained groan from Wally. "Is little miss kitty distracting you so much you forgot how to put on your clothes?"

"It isn't the cat that's distracting me, it's this uninvited houseguest that has his feet on the furniture and is eating all my cereal," Wally snapped, losing his cool, yanking the piece of shit plaid tie from around his neck and chucking it over his shoulder where it draped across the TV dejectedly.

"Uninvited my ass," Dick grumbled into his breakfast.

"I give up, Dick. What am I supposed to do? I can't stop thinking about her. I'm not supposed to feel this way about a _villain_..." Wally sighed, plopping down on the cushions beside him. Dick covered his mouth briefly, suddenly letting out a signature cackle that nearly caused him to spew Count Chocula all over his friend.

"Bro, she's hardly a villain. She breaks into places, and then leaves. Sure, she might get a slap on the wrist from Central PD for breaking and entering, but that's all they can convict her with... or is 'tormenting the _illustrious _Flash' a federal crime now?"

"Shut up, Dick. You don't have this problem. You and your, what, five girlfriends have it easy. They're all heroes," Wally said, hunching over his now soggy bowl of _Oops! All Berries _Cap'n Crunch glumly.

Dick counted on his fingers and raised an eyebrow at Wally.

"Um, of the heroic women I've dated, I count four; Kory, Zee, Helena, and Babs. Who do you count as five?" he asked.

Wally shrugged, chewing his food absentmindedly as he answered, "I guesstimated."

Dick shook his head and finished his cereal, walking over to deposit his bowl in the sink. He checked the microwave clock on the way back.

"Not that I didn't enjoy the free cereal and lovely story about how you creamed yourself over Tigress," Dick began calmly, ignoring Wally's flushed, quick denials of having ever mentioned a damn thing about "creaming" himself over her. "I've gotta get back to Gotham. And you'd better get your ass to the lab. This woman hasn't crushed your mood to blow things up, has she?"

Wally snorted. "Hell no! There's science to be done!"

Dick rolled his eyes and walked out the door without another word.

After he was gone, Wally grumbled murderously over his cereal,"I _did not _mention that part of the story!"

**o.o**

Wally decided to walk to work, it would give him time to mull his... _situation _over and decide on the best course of action. As far as advice went, Barry would be the absolute _last _person he'd want to go to for advice, as the older speedster had never had this problem, as far as Wally knew. Plus, he didn't really feel like dealing with the awkward embarrassment it might conjure.

The young man sighed in frustration, rubbing at his face as he turned the corner of the next block.

_Dick's already proven to be next to useless, _he thought grumpily. _And... I've just taken the wrong turn._

Not paying attention, he had started following a routine patrol route that, not coincidentally, would eventually lead him to the lab. It was a path he occasionally took on the way to work, just to make sure things were good and quiet; however, he was running late today and hadn't consciously made any plans to swing by this seedy path. The inherent problem he was facing was that this patrol route lead through an area that was fine enough in broad daylight... but was still certainly no place to be distracted, day _or _night.

Wally tugged at his collar and checked his watch, deciding he really just did not have the time for this or he would be in trouble with Mr. Johnson.

He was about to break out the superspeed and chug it through the area when, as if to prove the point of being a dangerous place to get distracted, he heard someone calling for help a couple of alleyways in front of him. Wally didn't even hesitate; he was a hero after all, and springing into action was what drove him. He sprinted up the sidewalk and skidded to a rough halt at the mouth of the alley the yell had echoed from, and was preparing to act when a figure ran right past him toward the disturbance, inadvertently whipping him in the face with her mane of long blonde hair.

The same light shade of blonde hair as Tigress's. Why was he thinking about that? He shook his head to clear it of the stray thought. He needed to focus.

"Miss, wait! You can't go in there!" he called after her retreating form with authority. But he was just Wally West, a geeky lab rat on his way to blow up some chemicals, not the highly respected Flash. So of course he was ignored, and now he wasn't sure if this woman was a part of the problem or just some dumb civilian that was trying to be a hero but would most likely wind up dead.

If he didn't get his ass in gear and intervene, that was.

It seemed that the blonde had the attacker well in hand; she had him pinned up against the dirty bricks at the back of the alley, hissing in his ear. Wally's eyebrows rose in shock, surprised by this strange woman's apparent prowess and efficiency at handling crooks. He was about to address her when his eyes alighted on the victim.

The victim who was currently pointing a gun at his attacker and, by default, his rescuer.

_Shit._

"Whoa there buddy, do you even know how to use that gun?" Wally asked placatingly, voice neutral and even—this wasn't his first time in a situation like this. The victim rounded and pointed the gun at Wally before moving it back to its previous position slowly with shaking hands, his wild eyes never leaving Wally

"He—he's been following me for weeks! The police don't believe me!" his voice came out strangled and distraught. "I've been getting strange notes, things have gone missing, and I've been seeing him everywhere I go!"

"Why don't I call the police, while you take a few steps back and put down the gun?" Wally asked reasonably, beginning to bring one of his hands down in a cautious descent to where his cell phone was stashed in his pocket. "It wouldn't be nice to get your rescuer shot."

"Yes, I would prefer to avoid a trip to the hospital if I could," commented the husky, strangely familiar voice of the wannabe-hero still pinning the attacker down. For a second, Wally could have sworn it belonged to Tigress.

_God, I've got to get that woman off my brain!_

To the speedster's relief the high-strung man tentatively backed up to the street, lowering his aim to the cracked pavement. Gun no longer pointed at her, the _poser _seemed strangely relaxed, like she was in her element or something. She wasn't one of his comrades and she didn't hold herself like a cop. People who weren't superheroes shouldn't look that relaxed, as if pinning crazed stalkers was an everyday occurrence that one should be so completely desensitized to.

Well, unless they were from Gotham City, of course.

Unfortunately, Wally couldn't give the rescuer more thought as dispatch picked up. He took a breath to start explaining the situation to the gruff sounding man on the other end, when a sudden movement in his periphery caught his attention.

The attacker that the blonde woman had been so carefully restraining against the wall had seen a momentary chance at freedom, it seemed. He lashed out with his foot with surprising speed and caught the woman's ankle, aiming to trip her backwards. She gave a startled yell, attempting to regain her balance and her hold even as he broke free from her grip... that is until a loud, ear-piercing bang rent the air around them.

Followed by a scream of pain from the woman.

Wally dropped his phone, ignoring the curious shouts from the cop at the other end of the connection as it clattered to the ground. He was upon the hapless victim in a heartbeat, tackling him powerfully, causing his grasp on the gun to loosen so that it skidded a few feet across the ground. It stopped dangerously close to the attacker's boots, and Wally's heart skipped a beat as he drew his eyes up in horror, sure that the man would take both he and the victims lives.

_Good job, West, that's the last mistake you'll ever make!_

His morbid thought was proved to be false, however.

The blonde woman, her right shoulder bleeding profusely between her clenched fingers, managed to gather herself long enough to slam her left shoulder into him just has his fingertips brushed along the handle of the gun. She let out a raspy cry of pain at the action, but kept him sandwiched between her and wall.

"I don't think so, _asshole_," she ground out through gritted teeth, looking like she was in the worst pain imaginable. Wally tried not to focus too much on the crimson rivulets trailing from her bicep and dripping down to the pavement from the tip of her elbow. Instead, he reached for his battered cell phone and was relieved to hear the policeman's voice.

"We've got them incapacitated, but there's been a casualty," Wally wheezed, keeping all of his weight firmly on the spasming, struggling man beneath him. "No one's dead, but there was an accident and a shot was fired on a civilian. She's been hurt pretty bad, send an ambulance!"

**o.o**

It just seemed so logical for him to follow her into the ambulance; some part of his brain was equating her with someone familiar, and thus it was his job to keep an eye on her... and deal with the fallout from his supervisor. Plus, it wasn't in Wallace West's(or the _Flash's_) nature to leave an injured denizen alone, even after the danger had passed.

"Just because we bagged a couple of crazies together doesn't mean I'll give you my number," the woman said defensively as one of the medics was cleaning and examining her wound in the back of the ambulance. Luckily the bullet hadn't penetrated directly through her arm, but rather grazed along it. Still, it was deep and bad enough that it would require stitching.

Wally, who was leaning casually against the frame of the stationary vehicle, held up his hands in a placating sort of gesture. He was in no mood to have this girl at his throat for her own mistake; because really, what kind of idiot purposely put themselves in the line of fi—oh, _wait_.

_Well, if I put it that way it makes me sound like a hypocrite_, he mused to himself. _Let me re-phrase: what sort of non-super powered idiot puts themselves in the line of fi—oh, wait. Dick does that on a daily basis! Dammit! _

"_Sorry_, but the world doesn't revolve around you, Miss Thing," he snapped abruptly, more out of frustration at his own incompetence than anything she'd done—well, minus putting herself in danger like that to begin with. If the citizens of Central were going to start growing balls of steel like this woman had, Wally was going to have to find himself a new gig. "I'm more worried about saving this fine ass from getting chewed out by my supervisor than obtaining your digits."

_Ooh, way to be charming, West._

"If your own ass is so important, why did you stop to help?" she growled, eyebrows knitting together. She winced as the medic applied antiseptic to her wound.

"Because, I just can't look away and go about my business while someone is calling for help."

The woman snorted derisively at his confession. "What are you, a superhero?"

Wally's heart nearly stopped at that bold accusation until he realized it was merely a joke, not an indication that she had any clue he was actually the Flash. He breathed a small sigh of relief and responded.

"Like you're any better? Miss Pin-the-guy-with-a-gun-to-the-wall-and-act-apathetic. Do you have a death wish or are you just an adrenaline junkie?" Wally mocked. Seriously, what the hell made this chick tick?

"I'm sick of people who run away from their responsibilities leaving those unable to cope with them in their wake," she muttered. The speedster had the distinct feeling that those words were meant a little more for herself to hear rather than him.

But he'd heard them.

"You'd begrudge Superman for taking vacation on his birthday," he asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"Yeah, I would. Suicide Slum doesn't suddenly become a garden district every three-hundred and sixty-five days."

**o.o**

This was bad. This was _really _bad. Artemis needed to get out of this ambulance and away from this crazy ginger. If she was taken to the hospital, Lawrence might find her and turn her over.

_Or worse._

"Shit," she swore under her breath, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. She surveyed the wound. With enough bandages, it would heal fine, no stitches required... or at least, that's what she kept telling herself, anyway.

"What'dya say?" the ginger asked, peering at her, trying to get her to meet his gaze.

"Nothing," Artemis scoffed, keeping her eyes averted. All of a sudden, Ginger unfolded himself from his position and tried to climb into the ambulance with her, apparently intent on accompanying her on the journey. She started at the sudden proximity in the cramped space.

"Look," she said, finally meeting his eyes.

_Whoa_, green.

There followed a strange silence in which they scrutinized each other, and there was a spark of something in his irises... almost like a hint of confused recognition or something. But he blinked and the hold was gone, and she glared at him.

"You're cute. But I'd rather not have you tangled up in my affairs. You know the phrase about curiosity and cats, right?" she asked sweetly, though her gaze was hard. His unwanted curiosity might very well land him an early grave if the damn medics got her name and Lawrence thought the Ginger was close to her.

Ginger paused and looked at her with his head cocked. His eyes widened almost comically, brows shooting up toward his hairline. He stepped back suddenly, almost tripping over the steps of the ambulance and watching, expression dumbfounded, as the paramedics closed the doors in his face.

The ambulance's engine roared to life as it pulled out onto the street. Artemis had only a moment now to execute her plan of action.

_Okay, one problem down, one to go._

"Um, excuse me, sir?" she politely asked one of the paramedics. He turned to look at her and was met by her boot to his nose. The force of her kick sent the man ricocheting off the wall and into his partner. The two paramedics crashed into an IV pole and collapsed in a heap. The driver heard the crash and the truck screeched to a grinding halt.

Artemis stumbled as gravity tried to pull her into the pile of paramedics, but recovered her balance. She kicked open the doors and started to run, gritting her teeth and holding her jostled arm, only to end up in a bearhug from that damn Ginger man before she could get any distance in. Choosing to play the Damsel in Distress card, she started to sob hoarsely.

Honestly it wasn't a hard act to play, considering the throbbing of her bicep was just about unbearable at this point.

"I... I just can't do hospitals. My—my mother, she, she's the victim of negligence," she cried out, opting for the truth rather than digging herself any deeper than she already was.

"Please don't make me go in the ambulance," she continued, peaking at the redhead though one eye. He looked at her and nodded, letting her out of his grasp. He walked over to where the three paramedics were investigating the damage to their truck and began to talk to them.

She stopped her alligator tears and watched the negotiations, feeling a little guilty for tricking him. Still, the part about her mother... well, that was nothing but the truth, at least. She could only hear bits of the redhead's speech.

"She doesn't like hospitals. She gets panic attacks, she didn't mean to kick you in the face."

**o.o**

It took the scientist a few minutes to placate the offended paramedics, and when he turned around, finally free, he was disgruntled to find that the blonde had run off. But for some reason not entirely surprised.

_Damn..._The redhead mentally cursed as he checked around a few nearby corners. After he was sure that she'd disappeared he continued on his path for work, his eyes peeled for any sign of that long blonde ponytail amongst the crowds of other early morning commuters.

_There are a lot of people with blonde hair_, Wally reasoned to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets as he thought. _It's not uncommon, it's a recessive allele but it's definitely not _rare _around here. _His mind drifted back to the relaxed state the woman had been in during the scuffle. _Then again... it's not normal for someone to continue fighting after being shot. Most civilians go right into shock after taking a hit like that. _

Wally barely noticed that the light had changed and someone walking past nudged his shoulder to get him moving. He gave a sheepish smile of thanks before stepping onto the crosswalk. _That was Tigress, I'm sure of it... Being so relaxed in a hostile situation, the hair, the cat joke... and those eyes. I'd just about put money on it! But Tigress is a villain. So why would she help someone? Villains don't do that..._

He wished he was at his desk so that he could slam his forehead onto the surface. The facts were contradicting themselves and he hated it. He didn't understand why everything couldn't just be like the elements he worked with.

Where everything fit into a category and its reactions were predictable. Where everything was laid out before him if he just did a little brainwork.

_Then again... _Wally grinned as he began applying his knowledge, ignoring the odd stares from passersby as his mind was once again lost from reality. _If I apply heroes and villains to the periodic table... I would put superheroes in the gases and the villains in the metals. But that would still mean that there would be people in the metalloids who are both. _

The grey area was inevitable. Even _science _had it.

So maybe it wasn't so far fetched that heroes and villains had it, too.


End file.
